'Nutcracker' continues to captivate

As my 12-year-old daughter and I pulled into the parking lot at Nevada Union High School Sunday afternoon to see "The Nutcracker Ballet," I was surprised to see that the lot for the Don Baggett Theatre was completely full, with several cars still circling, hoping for an open space. Such a good turnout, I thought, usually signifies a promising performance. I wasn't disappointed.

After being dropped from the holiday schedule by The Center for the Arts, Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Ballet" was picked up this year by Echappe Productions out of Grass Valley, a small theater, dance and art production company owned by Bon Marie Munier. The company's production manager, Santia Enos, said, "'The Nutcracker' is a holiday tradition, and we are so happy to bring it back to our community." And the community responded.

The theater was packed. As the lights dimmed and the audience became silent, anticipation was high. We were rewarded. What occurred in the next hour was positively brilliant. With my bird's-eye view in the front row, I saw the interaction between the 70-plus performers, ranging in age from 4 to 60-something. Many of the cast members and volunteers had participated in the last three productions and the camaraderie and support between the performers was obvious. Munier was right when she said, "... it feels a bit like a family reunion."

Echappe's production is based on the original story, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," written by E.T.A. Hoffman in 1814. Beginning with a lively Christmas party where presents were joyfully handed out to the children, a famous magician soon began performing magic, crazy mice battled toy soldiers with candy canes, snowflakes swirled and danced and much more.

In Act Two, a variety of dances from around the world were presented including Arabian belly dancing, reed flutes, bon bons, Spanish chocolate, a waltz of flowers, Russian peppermint and Chinese tea. The styles of the dances ranged from exotic to elegant to silly to sexy and back and kept the audience captivated. The costumes were quite wonderful, full of attention to detail and very colorful.

I'd give special praise for their dance performances to Hollie Mudd, Nick Katzman and Rachel Johnson - all of whom are local dancers. Hollie Mudd, 12, studies a variety of dances at Echappe` and the Sierra Dance Institute. She possesses grace and maturity beyond her years. Nick Katzman studied at Expressions, graduated from NU, majored in dance at Sac State and danced with the San Francisco Ballet Company. He currently plans to return home to Grass Valley and teach dance locally at Echappe, which is thrilled to have him. Rachel Johnson started dancing with Laura Bishop, Expressions, the Dean Dance Center in Sacramento, and now dances with Lines Ballet School of San Francisco. She is home-schooled and plans to graduate from Nevada Union.

My daughter and I agreed that we thoroughly enjoyed the evening. While this production of "The Nutcracker" is over for the year, auditions for next year are being planned. Call Echappe at 271-1200 or visit www.grassvalleynutcracker.com formore information.

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Janice Fairless loves to dance and takes a class three times a week. Her day job is as an advertising consultant at The Union.